Tuesday 30 May 2017

A morning at Stanford Reservoir, Leicestershire/Northamptonshire - May 28, 2017

I had agreed to go for a walk with my wife this morning at Stanford Reservoir when David called to say he was going to look for a Jack Snipe there, that has been present for some time now.  I explained the situation to him and asked him to give me a call if he saw it.

Just before I set off there was a message that the snipe had been seen but had flown towards the Northamptonshire side of the reservoir and so I called David and made aware.  He called back a few minutes later to say that he found the White-fronted Goose that had also been present recently.


He had called again before I reached the reservoir to say he was watching the Jack Snipe and when I arrived I called him to get more details as my wife and I were going to walk along the Leicestershire side.  He explained that it was on the Leicestershire side but that I was unlikely to see it due to the vegetation.  He also said that it was wet on the Northamptonshire side and so I left my wife having a coffee whilst I went to see the Jack Snipe from the Northamptonshire side.

It was about a ten-minute walk before I reached David, who was with Chris Hubbard and thankfully the bird was still there.  After watching it for a few minutes David pointed out the White-fronted Goose, which was also on the Leicestershire bank and quite close to the snipe.  Whilst on the Northamptonshire side I had heard three Willow Warblers, a Blackcap, Sedge Warbler and Reed Warbler and saw a Whitethroat.

I knew that there was work being carried out at the dam and that it wasn’t possible to do a complete circuit of the reservoir but I was hoping that we would be able to reach the entrance road and then walk back to the car via South Kilworth.  However as we approached the dam it was all fenced off and we had retrace our steps back to the car.

The walk produced an Oystercatcher, eight Common Terns, a Cuckoo, three Chiffchaff, five Blackcap, two Garden Warbler, a Whitethroat, four Sedge Warbler and seven Reed Warbler.

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